Short stories & travel reports from a life spent living, working and exploring the globe.

Jinhua

In August 2018 I was in desperate need of a short trip, just a few days away from Ruian, the little Chinese city I live in. But having seen as much of China as I have, it can be challenging to find something a bit different from the usual shtick. Scanning my beady eyes over a map of Zhejiang province, I caught sight of a nearby city called Jinhua and decided to do some research.

I quickly became fascinated by the prospect of two sights. First was a contemporary architecture park by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, a collection of riverside structures that now stand abandoned after the park’s controversial creator landed himself in hot water with the Chinese government. The other was the far less dramatic but highly quirky Ham Museum which reveals that, much to my surprise, China was producing jamon long before the Spanish and it all began in Jinhua. Who’da thunk it?

To find out what I made of Jinhua and its curious sites, have a dig through my articles on: